Climate Impacts & Feedbacks

Global albedo change (1700-2010) based on Land

Use reconstruction of Hurtt et al (2006) and MODIS

Albedo product (Ghimire et al., 2014, Geophysical

Research Letters)

Land-atmosphere fluxes of energy, water, and carbon exert a strong control on atmospheric properties, and thus provide a key forcing for global climate.GSFC has a long history of incorporating remotely sensed data on land properties into land-atmosphere models, including the pioneering Simple Biosphere (SiB) model.This work extends to understanding how human land use, including urbanization, affects regional and global climate.

GSFC researchers are also examining long-term impacts of a changing climate on ecosystem composition, extent, and structure.For example, analysis of long-term records from AVHRR, MODIS and Landsat has revealed systematic increases in high-latitude plant area, and changes in Siberian forest composition.